Power Classifications
Power Classifications and the accompanying number ratings are used by the PRT to quickly identify parahuman threats and adopt strategies, although it’s used by others as well, including by capes in India.“Trying to enlist help. Names and powers?” “Kismet, balance thinker,” the Caucasian said. He wore a white robe with a hard, faceless mask that had only slits for the eyes. “And the other two?” “As far as I can tell, Fathom and Particulate. Best translations I can give. My Punjabi isn’t strong.” “Their powers?” I asked, with a restrained patience. “Displaces people or things to another dimension, filled with water, brings them back. Particulate’s a dust tinker.” - Excerpt from Crushed 24.3 Each classification is matched with a number, where higher numbers pose a greater threat to public safety. In theory, power classifications are only intended to rate the threat posed by the power - not the user's skill or any other factor.The actual number rating depends on the impact/strength of the power, obviously. It’s perhaps an oversight, perhaps a deliberate action (or some combination of the two) that versatility of a power isn’t counted unless it’s explicit – and Taylor’s isn’t. An example on how this could be deliberate: a PRT squad that moves in on a situation with notice to expect a, say, Shaker-3 that was rated a three only because he’s too much of a dumbass to use his powers to their full potential? They could be really screwed if said Shaker-3 had a fit of inspiration or some guidance/orders from someone that knew what they were doing. So dumbass gets rated a Shaker-5. The flip side of the coin, the potential oversight, is that you get the opposite scenario. Taylor gets rated as a Master-5 based on a discussion & analysis of her power & it’s potential on a surface examination, even though she might be 1-2 points higher given her creativity, versatility and other factors that perhaps the heroes aren’t fully aware of (her range, ability to fabricate spider silk, etc). This sort of situation is mitigated by the fact that the PRT squads are instructed to expect the worst case scenarios, to expect that every enemy agent will be operating at peak efficiency, perhaps, but yeah. ... Canary, had she gone evil, could have started an all out riot, turning any opponent into an ally within moments. Can anyone say whether she might have been able to use televisions, radio, speakers, to get hundreds, thousands, millions of people at a time? That, plus hysteria and the degree of control she appeared to exhibit (making someone mutilate themselves without them breaking free of the compulsion) all got factored into the 8.- comment by Wildbow Nor are they intended to rate the "power level", usefulness, or raw strength of an ability; just the threat it poses to PRT personnel and civilians.Not to mention that I've repeatedly said that the ratings of classifications aren't a gauge of raw power. They're a gauge of threat. A parahuman that loses every fight can have a higher rating than a parahuman that wins 90% of their fights without batting an eye, if that parahuman has a power that poses a threat to the city or public at large (ie. lingering radiation). - comment by WildbowThe number rating is a ballpark scale for the threat to a team, rather than any indication of the raw strength of an ability. Adjust for possibility of harm, panic, an exceptionally high degree of control that might allow one to target specific team members or civilians, or exceptionally low degrees of control that might point to collateral damage, spreading effects or aftereffects. - PRT Quest files However, in practice they are often used poorly, or simply to cut through "red tape" and justify treating a parahuman a certain way.Power levels - Breaker 2, Stranger 14, etc, they're pretty explicitly for the PRT. As in, the bureaucrats and the non-cape guys with the suits & mostly nonlethal weaponry. It's a shorthand way of warning the soldiers, for when there isn't time to say, "Electromagnetic shield, don't waste your bullets!" It is possible for a Brute 3 to be physically stronger than a Brute 5. Capes will use it too, but it's something vague that you use to get a general sense of a situation (see Weld with the dossier in Arc 9, chapter 1). Other cases where it matters are in terms of strangers and masters who require special precautions, and determining what kind of cell a particular parahuman goes into. Tagg slaps a '2 of everything' on Taylor because it gives full authorization for all special measures, and it's a constant reminder to his people that she's a threat in every department. Capes don't have penis measuring contests over it, and it's rare for it to get adjusted unless there's information the PRT doesn't know or someone needs to cut past some red tape (I'd even say the latter case is more common). If a cape is developing fast enough to warrant big changes and it isn't because of the bureaucracy shortcuts, it's easier to slap a high rating on them to be safe and call it done (Going from Blaster 3 to blaster 6? Call them a nine, so your troops aren't surprised). There are no numerical numbers assigned to a given rating. You aren't going to look at the guy who bench presses 9 tons and say "Oh, Brute 9". Way too much context involved. Barely even factors in. A guy that can bench press half a ton is just about as dangerous to the soldiers on the ground as the nine ton guy. It's less of a factor than natural versatility, the form that strength comes in, and what else is in the package. - comment by WildbowAs stated below, the classification system is a thing given to the PRT teams. That's the yardstick - how dangerous is the cape to the PRT? If you're comparing things as a raw power level (like the power level over 9000 in DBZ) you're going to run into flaws, naturally. Assuming you're going in relatively blind, how bad is the situation going to be? What should your reactions be? Going up against a hostile Canary, no context? You're potentially dealing with a mob. Labyrinth? There were prior circumstances where a far less adjusted Labyrinth (as alluded to in her interlude) justified her Shaker 12 rating. It's also, in keeping with the themes of Worm, an imperfect system/structure. In the PRT quest roleplay I ran, I challenged players to gather information and classify capes accurately. It's very, very difficult, and it's never a static number - it changes over time. - comment by WildbowPenis measuring will happen. It's just inaccurate. Anyone who knows how the system really works is going to tell themselves that Cyberphallus is only a Brute 6 because Director Cox wanted to clear him for rubble clean-up duty without having to go through the safeties certification. - comment by Wildbow Current Classifications In modern day, the PRT has twelve different categories:Mover - the power moves the cape. Flight, speed, teleportation, etc. Mover triggers are provoked by a drive to escape, flee, run. Shaker - Area of effect powers. Shakers are generated from environmental danger or ambient danger. Brute - Enhanced strength, durability; armor, muscle, personal forcefields. Brutes are created from experiences of physical damage or pain. Blaster - Powers that provide a ranged attack. Blasters come about from hostile others, approaching or attacking from a distance. Breaker - Altered state, oft toggled, granting powers or altered interaction with reality. Breakers come from abstract stressors. Blend or ambiguous re: mental or physical lines. Master - Creates minions or has a means of compelling others to take certain actions. Masters come about from isolation, alienation, exile, or betrayal. Tinker - Building alien or advanced technology. Thinkers arise from solutionless problems over long periods, culminating in crisis moment. Thinker - Advanced perception, knowledge, data-collection, or skills. Thinkers manifest from emotional or mental strain, reaching a crisis point in a short time. Striker - Touch based and melee effects. Typically weapon’s or arm’s reach limited. Strikers result from immediate, in-your-face threat, usually a singular object or individual. Changer - Shapeshifting and alteration of one’s physical form. Changers arise from identity/body image issues, or conflict of role vs. social expectations. Trump - Powers that involve powers: picking from, add, remove, complicate, compound. Trumps have capes directly or indirectly involved in their trigger. Rare. Stranger - Powers specializing in infiltration, distraction, subtlety. Strangers gain powers from unwanted attention or social/collective pressure. - WD Rulebook: Character Creation - Trigger Capes: Classifications It’s possible for parahumans to receive hybrid and sub-classifications. Hybrid ratings are issued if two or more aspects are irrevocably linked and are designated with a slash,Dauntless is a striker/trump. The two aspects are irrevocably linked, thus the slash. In briefer terms, he'd simply be a trump - he gives himself powers, in an indirect fashion. If his shard had manifested differently, he wouldn't have the need for 'totems' - objects linked to the manifestation of his power. He'd simply grant himself the power. But the striker rating is because it's touch-based. It would be a very low rating - in a fight against a civilian, being able to grab something and empower it would maybe make a bit of a difference, but the resulting power is so weak it's questionable. Give him a few months of regularly empowering said object, however, and you have a rather potent ability. - Private message by Wildbow, posted on Spacebattles. while sub-ratings are given if a power has side-effects or applications that belong in another category. These are placed within parentheses. It’s possible for the number assigned to sub-ratings to exceed the number assigned to the main power. History The classification system was initially created by the PRT ground-patrol and response teams in New York to classify villains. Over time, the system was used to classify all parahumans, and as many thirty categories were added to account for all the different types. As the time passed, it was discovered that certain strategies were valid against broad groups of parahumans and classifications were condensed until twelve groups were left. Only two of the older classifications have been expanded upon: The Shifter classification, which dealt with parahumans that could alter their appearance within human norms, and the Nuker designation, which covered Shakers with Blaster-like offensive potential and Blasters with Shaker-esque radius and potential for damage.Sarcophagus #U0402 Alexandria-ish package grants flight, as well as protection, in the form of external armor or a forcefield, the former providing imperfect but substantial protection that decays as it absorbs several incoming attacks, the latter providing perfect protection against a single hit. Both forms of protection recover after a short pause. Sarcophagus grants a blaster power with shaker-esque radius and damage potential or a shaker power with blaster-like offensive potential, the indistinction closely fitting the original PRT ‘Nuker’ designation). Nature of armor, recovery period, style of flight, and the nature or flavor of the ‘nuke’ vary based on the individual. - Detail Generator - Vials, spreadsheet by Wildbow. Other named older classifications include Catcher, Brick, Shaper,“Let’s see, the next group is… Fenrir’s Chosen?” “One of two major offshoots of the Aryan villain group, Empire Eighty-Eight, which fell apart after the death of their leader, Kaiser. Fenrir’s Chosen are led by Hookwolf. Violent, utterly merciless, and reveling in the current chaos.” “And it looks like he’s a Shaper 4, Brute 7, with the longest list of homicides or suspected homicides I’ve seen on someone who wasn’t already in prison. Thick file, I take it he has lots of followers?” “The largest group in terms of parahuman numbers, at present.” - Excerpt from Sentinel 9.1 Razor, and Controller.Wildbow - Today at 7:08 PM What profhoy said. They were collapsed into one another when it became more trouble than it was worth to distinguish between controllers & masters. Current protocols work for most situations where you need to quickly communicate possibilities. And the recruits kept getting tired of 'mover, shaker, catcher, brick, brute and breaker, shaper, razor, master, controller, changer, tinker, thinker, uhhhh..." - Worm Quotes and WoG Repository on Spacebattles, quoted post by Wildbow. Number Ratings The numbers assigned to classifications are not an indication of raw strength of an ability. Rather, the number rating is a ballpark scale indicating the threat to a team. As such, the numbers also take into account the possibility of harm, but also panic.Not to mention that I've repeatedly said that the ratings of classifications aren't a gauge of raw power. They're a gauge of threat. A parahuman that loses every fight can have a higher rating than a parahuman that wins 90% of their fights without batting an eye, if that parahuman has a power that poses a threat to the city or public at large (ie. lingering radiation). - Comment by Wildbow on RPG.net Exceptionally high or low degrees of control are important to take into account: The first for the possibility of targeting specific team members or civilians, the second for the dangers of collateral damage or aftereffects. While the number scale starts at one and rises up with no hard limit (still, 10+ are rare and denote very exceptional powers),The scale doesn’t max out at 10, but very few individuals actually exceed 10. Leviathan does not exceed 10 on the Brute scale. - Comment by Wildbow on Extermination 8.5 it’s also possible to receive a rating of zero,Saint Tinker 0, maintained understanding of Dragon's tech via. Teacher - parahumanList, bolded edit by Wildbow. or even a negative rating.◈ GRUMMAN; Eric Stodt Classification: Mover 6, Brute 8 or Mover -1, Blaster 9 Toggles between two breaker states, one granting exceedingly maneuverable flight abilities, the other turning him into an immobile artillery platform. - PRT Quest (Anchorage) It is the responsibility of PRT operatives and parahumans to familiarize themselves with the current ratings for all relevant threats.The classification system was initially created by the PRT ground-patrol and response teams in New York as a means of quickly identifying threats and adopting strategies. As many as thirty categories were added to accommodate other types of parahuman as the methodology spread, and these forms were later condensed as it was discovered that certain strategies were valid against parahumans of a broad type. The number rating is a ballpark scale for the threat to a team, rather than any indication of the raw strength of an ability. Adjust for possibility of harm, panic, an exceptionally high degree of control that might allow one to target specific team members or civilians, or exceptionally low degrees of control that might point to collateral damage, spreading effects or aftereffects. The PRT stresses the pairing of number rating with power to encourage immediate and intuitive grasp of appropriate responses to a given crisis. It is the responsibility of PRT operatives and parahumans to familiarize themselves with the current ratings for all relevant threats. - PRT Master Reference - Classifications Trivia * Weld was taught to remember the classifications using a rhyme: Mover, Shaker, Brute and Breaker. Master, Tinker, Blaster and Thinker, Striker, Changer, Trump and Stranger.“I do,” Weld nodded. He’d memorized it as a rhyme, as suggested by his old boss. Maybe that had been the intention from the start: Mover, Shaker, Brute and Breaker. Master, Tinker, Blaster and Thinker, Striker, Changer, Trump and Stranger. - Excerpt from Sentinel 9.1 Site Navigation Category:Terminology Category:Power Classifications